American Borders Forum

What should American immigration and border policies be? Submit your ideas to The American Borders Forum today.Site updates each Wednesday | Do you support education? There's a school that needs your help. Visit our School Supplies Drive page today.

We will never be able to curb illegal immigration in this country until we stop politicizing it and actually make an effort to understand it. Immigration has become a hot political topic, it really gets people riled up on both sides of the fence. The problem is that the immigration debate has eroded into a war of sound-bites and broad statements, and very little about the actual problem is ever discussed.

First let’s start with the obvious, conservative law-makers who scream about the harm illegal immigration is doing to the country, who are then found to have hired illegal immigrants as part of their domestic staff. So, obviously, they can’t believe the negative stereo-type they are painting of this group as a whole, and they certainly can’t believe that they represent a “clear and present danger” when they let them in to tend to their hearth and home. They always stare directly into the camera at the shaming press conference and say “XXX, was different she (or he) was like one of the family.” But then those that make the rules always seem to think themselves above them don’t they…

There needs to be some system in place to regulate immigration into this country. But the problem is that when the legislation is dictated from the campaign podium and not the field chances are the results will be disastrous. Take California’s three strikes law for example. Great campaign legislation, catchy, easy to remember and really drives the point home that the candidate is tough on crime. Problem is this is one of the dumbest pieces of legislation ever passed. By taking sentencing away from the justices, you no longer let the punishment fit the crime. When the penalty for getting caught smoking a joint on three separate occasions is the same as killing 50 people over with your car, something’s wrong. Obviously the crimes are very different, but under the three strikes rule, they are the same. This law was supposed to be passed as a deterrent, but seem like if you already have two strikes you might as well go nuts, no reason to let the hostages go now. But it remains a law because everyone that points out the absurdity of it is quickly labeled “soft on crime”. So a stupid law that was once a great campaign slogan lives on.

We are on the verge of doing the same thing in our immigration process. It is not that we are incapable of devising a fair and balanced immigration system in this country; it’s just that the process can’t be diluted into 6 words or less. The causes of immigration, war, famine, NAFTA, economic opportunity, are wide and varied. Why then should the response be simple? It shouldn’t and by the very nature of the problem can’t be. So before we all go out and vote for English only in the public schools and assume that the “immigration” problem is solved, let us all just take a moment and think about what the issues surrounding immigration really are. Which really matter and which are just there as political fluff?

Just so it doesn’t seem like I’m “wimping out” on the topic at hand I offer the following suggestions to augment the current immigration process.

Being born on U.S. soil no longer qualifies you as a citizen. Citizenship is automatic only if at least one parent is already a citizen.

Companies and individuals that knowingly hire undocumented workers shall pay for all the costs of processing the individual they had employed, including reimbursing the government for all housing, travel and meal costs as well as hiring proper legal representation for the former employee.

If you have been caught living illegally in this country, were returned to your country and then were caught again residing illegally in the U.S., you shall not become a U.S. citizen.

All members of the military on active duty shall be recognized and treated as citizens; upon completion of three years of service citizenship shall become permanent so long as the recipient is honorably discharged from service at the end of term.

Those changes alone would take us further forward in solving the illegal immigration problem in this country than the countless hours of debate on the subject by self-serving politicians have thus far done. If we ever got past the posturing and sound bites and dug into addressing the real issues maybe we could actually solve a problem or two.

Some could say that this is a complex issue with many things that need to be taken into account before we can find a solution. I don’t happen to see it that way. I think immigration is fairly cut and dried. Either you do things the right way or you don’t get in. That being said, the solution to the flood of immigrants coming into the United States illegally will require some innovative solutions.

Many of the people who wish to enter our country without bothering to follow the rules are quite resourceful and willing to go to great lengths to get here. We need to be just as resourceful in our planning to stop them. We need to recognize the very real dangers posed by unsecured borders and act accordingly. We need to utilize all resources at our disposal and not be too squeamish to use real deterrents.

When National Guard troops were deployed to the border to augment the Border Patrol officers guarding our nation, we told them they could do nothing but watch and call for help if they saw someone coming across the border illegally. Why in God’s name would you put troops on the border trained and armed for combat and then tell them they could not repel invaders from a foreign land? These men whom we’ve spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to train to defend this nation were told to sit on their hands and do nothing to stop these people coming across the border! What moron thought that was a good plan?

We need to put troops along the border and give them the latitude to detain people coming across the border until the proper authorities arrive to send them packing back across the border. If they meet with resistance, they should be allowed to use force to stop these people from coming into our nation. There are reasons that we have a process for people wanting to immigrate to America. The process protects Americans from things like disease and criminal elements that could come into our nation if we don’t screen immigrants. It is not just some senseless bunch of rules to keep people from other nations out of America. There are good sound reasons for the process being in place.

In addition to troops, we need to use the technology available to us in the forms of satellite surveillance, infra-red detection alarmed relays and motion sensors under the ground to detect tunneling activities going under the border. We might even want to think about setting up a grid of anti-personnel devices along the border to let those who would illegally enter the U.S. know that we mean business when we say we don’t want illegal immigrants coming into the country.

On the domestic side, we need to prosecute employers for hiring undocumented workers and make the penalties stiff enough to make any employer afraid to hire illegal immigrants. We need to make jail time mandatory for hiring illegal immigrants and confiscate the business holdings of the employers who regularly hire undocumented workers to cut costs. There should be no profit in hiring people ineligible to work in this country. Any profits taken while using illegal labor should be forfeit and additional fines should be levied to assure that there is no gain to be had from the exploitation of undocumented workers or flaunting of immigration laws.

There also need to be reforms to the legal immigration process to incentivize legal immigration as opposed to illegal immigration. We need to look at the demands for labor and the pool of people looking to come to America to see where we can adjust our policies to meet the needs of business while protecting the health and safety of Americans. At the same time we need to make sure that American workers don’t end up losing their jobs to cheaper foreign counterparts coming in under a guest worker program. Any reforms need to be balanced and take into account the needs of the people on both sides of the border.

While the problem may be simple to define, the solutions are a bit more complicated. One thing however is quite simple and straightforward. We simply cannot afford to have unsecured borders and need to shut down the flow of illegal immigration across our borders as quickly as possible. When that is done and Americans can sleep more soundly at night knowing their country’s borders are secure, then we can talk about tackling the complexities of legal immigration reform.

If you are not a Native American, you are an immigrant, so am I. I came legally to this country at the age of five with my parents who worked hard, paid taxes (even Jesus paid taxes), lived by the rules of this great nation and never took or accepted a penny from the government. We came seeking FREEDOM from a communist country. It was months before we were able to enter the US legally. I remember us getting medical exams, shots (small pox), background check, references, and going through numerous interviews once we arrived. I also remembered people coming to the US from all over the world who waited years since it was based on "Quotas".
Read more...

The major problem our country is facing with illegal immigrants today is because of the exploitation of these immigrants. We believe the solution to this problem is two-fold. First, we should allow more immigrants in this country to cut down on the number of illegal ones. Second, all immigrants should be educated about their rights at the expense of the government. Below, you will find an in-depth look at our suggested reforms.

Reforms for immigration limitations:

-New immigrants can't equal more than 1% of the US population in a given year (the population being from the last recorded census). That 1% will be further divided up to allow only a certain number of immigrants each month.
-Each country of origin for immigrants will be allowed a certain percentage of that 1%. No country could receive more than 10% of the total amount and no country can receive less than .1% of it. The left over percentage will be divided up between all countries as follows:
Read more...

Do Elements Within the La Raza Movement Pose a Threat to America?

La Raza means literally “The Race” in Spanish. The movement was formed in 1968 to promote the interests of the Mexican-American community. Like the NAACP and other affirmative-action minded organizations, La Raza has many members that are interested in being part of America and promoting equality for all Americans. The fundamental goals as stated by the movement are benign and represent the ideals of American diversity and cultural pride.

There is another movement affiliated with La Raza that has historically been more militant and still maintains documents within their organization that point to isolationistic views Read More

A Plan

The one major thing that seems to be lacking in the immigration debate is a real plan that addresses the legitimate concerns with illegal immigration. There are strong opinions on both sides and a lot of rhetoric but there isn’t really any solid plan being promoted to address the illegal immigration issue in a way that is both fair and logical.

Trucking Cross Borders

This is mainly a concern for the trucking business. If we allow these people to come into our country, bringing cargo that we in America have, and can supply, then we are saying that the American working people are not needed, and have lost all say to legally enforced DOT (Department of Transportation) laws.Read More